For night crawlers looking for good food and games in Chennai, a new place has opened right beside the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) station at Velachery. Kora Karnival opened in the first week of November, and operates 24/7. On December 8 and 9, after the rainwater started receding, hundreds of people flocked this place with families and friends. Children were spotted playing with battery-operated cars and mini-trains stationed at the middle of the 2.5-acre property.
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Kora Karnival has a plethora of options for those who want to play and exercise. The promoters have plans to put up a cricket pitch and a football turf. “This will come up in the next two months. We already have a space for skating. We will also bring in archery, yoga and artificial water surfing,” says Rajasekhar Kora, managing director of Kora Food Street. “There are so many food outlets at night. So we wanted to focus more on entertainment here, along with food,” he adds. On the other side of the food court, a group of youngsters was waiting to get a fish pedicure after dinner.
Kora Karnival also houses an 18-seater 12-D theatre. S. Victor, who operates this space, says, “We are running short-animated films (which will be changed periodically). You can experience the visual, sensual and physical effects while watching the films. You also get to feel the effects of bubbles, rain, snowfall, smoke, and wind.”
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Rekha Dandey, the brainchild of Chennai’s first pet-themed restaurant, has also picked up a prominent space here. It has become the cynosure of all eyes. She has set up an entertainment area, called Dog Cafe, with over a dozen dogs of various breeds. A pet-grooming centre will also come up in the next few weeks. A space has been created for Mompreneurs, where women can bring in home-cooked food and sell.
“There are many innovative food outlets and cart vendors that have mushroomed in and around Velachery in the last three years. But this place has options for people of all age groups,” says S. Amarnath, who was at Kora Karnival for dinner with his mother and little son.
The Velachery area houses many start-ups, BPOs and information technology companies. It shares borders with Guindy, Taramani, Perungudi, Pallikaranai, Madipakkam, and Adambakkam. So the footfall at Kora Karnival has been good. Currently, 5,000-6,000 people are visiting it at weekends and 2,500 on weekdays.